


next year in jerusalem

by verity



Series: on this night of all nights [3]
Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Genre: Collection: Purimgifts Day 3, Gen, Judaism, Pesach
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-03-16
Updated: 2011-03-16
Packaged: 2017-10-17 00:34:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 703
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/171026
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verity/pseuds/verity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"I got shiraz instead of Manischewitz."</p><p>"Okay, I'm not going to complain about that."</p>
            </blockquote>





	next year in jerusalem

**Author's Note:**

  * For [igrockspock](https://archiveofourown.org/users/igrockspock/gifts).



> igrockspock, I just realized I forgot to list you as a recipient! I hope AO3 notifies you now so you know it's here. <3

  


"I can't eat this," Vi said, aghast. "Why did you put nuts in it? I said no nuts."

"My bubbe said nuts." Willow could tell that Kennedy was trying, not very successfully, not to raise her voice. "It says nuts in the recipe."

"You can make exceptions for food allergies!" Willow shouted towards the kitchen. Her head hurt, and she rubbed her temples. This had sounded like a better idea yesterday, which felt about a light year and forty arguments ago.

She didn't even have a haggadah.

"I found something on the internet," she told Xander wearily. He and Spike had put the extra leaf in the table last night, and now Willow was setting the table. When she finally got the edge of the table cloth even, she looked up to Xander's sympathetic face and sighed. "But it's not... I mean... it's Gentile Central here anyway. No one's going to know the difference."

"I got shiraz instead of Manischewitz," he offered.

Willow smiled, the left corner of her mouth quirking up. "Okay, I'm not going to complain about that."

"I hate shiraz," said Anya, breezing through the dining room. "Can we not have shiraz?"

"I think Andrew has a stash of Arbor Mist."

Willow wondered how many stashes Andrew had; she tried not wonder what _kind_. "The blackberry merlot _is_ sorta like Manischewitz. Mixed with Sprite." She rubbed her forehead again. Thinking. Not so good with that right now. Clearly, as an entire bottle of wine soda was starting to sound really, really great.

~

The late afternoon sun was warm on her face, and it was quiet outside. Quieter than it had been the day before, although not as eerily silent as it had been inside the grocery store. Willow could hear some bird trilling in the distance and insects buzzing closer by. It reminded her of England, a little.

"Hey," Buffy said, sitting down next to Willow on the front steps, palming something in her hand absently. "Thought I'd take a breather from the all chaos in my kitchen. You know, the usual."

Willow smiled. "Yeah."

They sat there for a while, shoulders brushing. A stray breeze tugged at her hair, and Willow tucked it back behind her ears. Maybe someday it would get less weird, she thought. Sometimes she sat next to Buffy and felt so far away from her. It wasn't like- like last year. Maybe it was her that was far away, now; she wasn't sure.

"I got you something. Well - I didn't. It was Spike. He knows a guy who knows a guy who knows…" Buffy unfolded her hand. "An orange. You know what I mean."

The fruit wasn't very big, and it was barely ripe, mottled pale green and orange. Probably stolen from someone's tree. When Willow took it, the orange was still warm from Buffy's hand. "Thanks," she said. "Gosh, I- Buffy- thanks."

~

" _Blessed are You, L-rd, our G-d, King of the universe, who creates the fruit of the vine_ ," Willow recited, and reclined to take a drink of… well, they'd run out of the shiraz a while ago.

It was a good seder.

Everyone forgot most of the Exodus story, even Kennedy. Andrew filled in the gaps by reenacting various scenes from _The Prince of Egypt_. Dawn complained at length about being the youngest child. The lamb shank was, indeed, seriously sketchy.

But the lamb loin, under Rona's supervision, turned out perfectly cooked; Andrew's noodle kugel put Aunt Minnie's to shame; and Amanda generously shared her bag of peanut butter cups with everyone without a nut allergy after she found the _afikoman_.

Willow kissed Kennedy before she led the final prayer, and Kennedy laughed beneath her lips. They were both a little tipsy. "Next year in Jerusalem!"

"Next year in Jerusalem!" said the rest of the table, not quite in unison, but with enthusiasm. Willow looked at everyone - friends, people who'd tried to murder her, people she'd tried to murder, _family_ (categories not mutually exclusive) - and felt a sudden tightness in her chest. When she sniffled, Xander winked at her with his good eye and Buffy smiled with both of hers.

For a brief moment, Willow even believed there might be a next year.

**Author's Note:**

> charoses recipe & notes courtesy of my other mama


End file.
